It might sound like an announcement from the department of selfevident truths, but experts say that reading is now officially good for you.

A new report by the National Year of Reading revealed that reading is not only a lovely way to enhance a cup of tea, but also the route to a better quality of life.

But this isn't just an exercise in stating the obvious.

Honor Wilson-Fletcher, project director for the National Year of Reading 2008, says their surveys found that less than a quarter of adults link an ability to read with success in life.

"We realised that our job for 2008 was do something more fundamental than just promote reading.

"For the first time we needed to say, 'Okay, we know everyone says that reading so important. But actually, Why?',"

Wilson-Fletcher says.

At the start of this year, she commissioned new research to discover the real, rather than anecdotal, benefits of reading.

"We all know those nice imaginative things like reading enrich your life and enhance you educationally. But we couldn't say why it's also the most essential tool for life."

Luckily, Wilson-Fletcher now has the ammunition she needs.

The National Year Of Reading report shows for the first time that forming a reading habit early in life can help to reduce future levels of loneliness, dissatisfaction and even cut chances of divorce among adults.

The findings also pinpoint that men are most likely to suffer from low literacy levels.

Non-reading adult males are twice as likely to live with their parents and have lower career aspirations than men who read.

Best-selling author Martina Cole is not surprised by the new report. Growing up in Essex, the youngest of five children in a large Irish Catholic family, Martina became a single mum at age of 18, and raised her first son by working three jobs and surviving on state benefits.

She published her first novel in 1992 and says her massively popular blockbusters about East End life have given many of her fans the chance to read books for the first time.

"I think the main reason for taking up reading is because there's a whole world between the covers of a book," she explains.

"A lot of people who read my books have never read books before. But they read me because my books are accessible."

Wilson-Fletcher agrees that there's a huge difference between having basic reading skills and feeling comfortable with a book.

"If you ask how many people in this country can't read - the level is pretty low.

But it gets more complicated when you ask the question, to what level can people read?

"Many adults can read to the level of a 10 or 12-year-old. But doors close when you can't read any better that that."

But with schools reinforcing the link between reading and traditional literature, Wilson-Fletcher says young people can't find an incentive to lose themselves in a book.

Increasingly teachers say: 'You've got to study this', and pupils think, 'What's this got to do with my life?'.

"Reading is associated with poetry and classic novels, when in fact it should be whatever people enjoy."

Although avid readers find ways to enjoy books early on, Cole agrees that many people are intimidated by the idea of reading.

"I got over the snobbery around reading many years ago. I think people should read what they want to read.

"I sometimes read things that are very literary and then might read something that is completely relaxing.

"I think if someone's sitting on a beach somewhere in Spain and they're reading my book and I can transport them to another world, then I've done my job."

Wilson-Fletcher says that being able to read well is becoming increasingly important in the modern world.

"It's easy to imagine 50 years ago that you could lead a pretty fulfilling life without being able to read well, but it's just not the case anymore.

"For example, we have people telling us that they want to be HGV drivers, but aren't sure they can pass the written test.

"So something that might not seem like a problem for a long time can suddenly put the brakes on a very simple aspiration."